KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's benchmark stock index was flat in early session trading as a pick up in certain heavyweights helped to offset the profit-taking seen at the start of the day.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 0.37 points to 1,516.24, off a morning low of 1,511.09.
Maybank drove the index higher with a 15 sen gain to RM9.82, while Press Metal
tacked on 12 sen to RM5.01 and PETRONAS Dagangan gained 22 sen ot RM21.44.
Public Bank weighed on the market, falling 14 sen to RM4.28. IHH Healthcare slid nine sen to RM6.76 and CIMB lost four sen to RM3.83.
With crude oil prices continuing their descent - Brent was down 2.56% to slip below US$70 a barrel while WTI shed 2.66% to US$66.67 a barrel - investors continued to unload holdings of oil and gas stocks on Bursa Malaysia.
Petron Malaysia dropped 18 sen nto RM3.70, Hibiscus Petroleum dropped 15 sen to RM1.68 and Hengyuan Refining slid 14 sen to RM1.78.
Meanwhile, Asian markets reversed loss from yesterday as investors breathed a sigh of relief that the Iran-Israel conflict had been contained.
In leading markets, Japan's Nikkei was up 1.06% to 38,758, China's CSI300 rose 1.09% to 3,899 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.95% to 24,150.
